Shipyard, Pease funds approved

PORTSMOUTH — After months of congressional wrangling, it now appears money earmarked for projects at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and Pease Air National Guard Base has been secured.

Shir Haberman

PORTSMOUTH — After months of congressional wrangling, it now appears money earmarked for projects at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and Pease Air National Guard Base has been secured.

N.H. Sens. Judd Gregg and John Sununu announced Wednesday that President Bush signed the Fiscal Year 2008 Omnibus Appropriations bill into law. That bill contains approximately $20 million in spending for three Seacoast projects.

Approximately $8.9 million will go toward the construction of a new 157th Air Refueling Wing headquarters operations and training facility at the Pease Air Guard Base. At the shipyard, $9.7 million is for the construction of a Consolidated Emergency Control Center, which will allow the consolidation of all of the yard's emergency response organizations in one location, and $1.2 million will be used for planning and design work for a modern, state-of-the-art production facility to support work on the new Virginia-class submarines.

On Tuesday, Nov. 6, the House passed a committee of conference report that included funding for the three projects. The report was slated to be approved by the Senate, but the following day, the Senate voted to uphold its rules and not allow Military Construction-Veterans Affairs funding to be attached to the Fiscal Year 2008 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education conference report.

At that time, Gregg promised to find a way to get the three projects funded. He blamed the Democratic majority in Congress for the procedural conflicts.

"There are many paths which the military construction/VA appropriations can now take to get to the president's desk, and the Democratic congressional leadership is considering their next move," said Gregg's press secretary, Laena Fallon. "Senator Gregg will continue to work to ensure that funding for these important projects at the shipyard is included in the final version of the bill."

President Bush had indicated he would veto the original multi-billion-dollar bill that includes the three appropriations. That bill, House Resolution 3043, had also included appropriations for everything from medical care for veterans to job training and improving community health care centers, until the Senate voted to separate the military construction and veterans benefits portion out of it.

"The administration strongly opposes HR 3043 because, in combination with the other fiscal year 2008 appropriations bills, it includes an irresponsible and excessive level of spending and includes other objectionable provisions," reads a Statement of Administration Policy dated July 17.

The $1.2 million earmarked for the shipyard is critical to the ability of local workers to deal with the next evolution of U.S. submarines, said Paul O'Connor, president of the shipyard's metal trades union.

"We can work on the Virginia class to some degree, but infrastructure changes are necessary for certain evolutions," O'Connor said. "That's our future."

Shipyard spokesman Danna Eddy confirmed that some work on the Virginia Class subs can be done at the shipyard as it is currently configured, but "the additional funding would enhance the shipyard's ability to execute the maintenance more efficiently."

It was the shipyard's efficiency that was cited as a reason to remove it from the 2005 base realignment and closure list.

Gregg took another shot at congressional Democrats in announcing approval of the Omnibus Appropriation bill.

"Though the Democratic leadership pushed this year's appropriations process into the 11th hour, it is important to note that Republicans' efforts to control spending successfully eliminated nearly $18 billion in new spending," he said. "I am pleased my colleagues were able to reach across the aisle and come up with an omnibus package which is more in line with the budget request, provides critical funding for troops in the field and still includes funding for important New Hampshire initiatives."

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